Peak of Eid Homecoming Flow at Merak Port Predicted to Last Until Tonight

TEMPO.CO, Cilegon - Banten Police predicted the peak of the Eid homecoming to Sumatra Island through Merak Port in Cilegon, Banten, will last until tonight.

Head of Public Relations at Banten Police, Sr. Comr. Shinto Silitonga said that until today, based on the monitoring at Tanjung Gerem Security Post, the traffic density at Merak Toll on Saturday at 11:00 was from KM 90 to Merak toll exit to 8 kilometers.

"We're implementing traffic engineering by diverting the traffic to exit at East Cilegon Toll. Meanwhile, the traffic density is monitored to occur at the arterial road in Tanjung Gerem junction to the port," Shinto said Saturday, April 30.

The Banten Police has coordinated with port authorities to operate Indah Kiat Pier and encourage ship owners to help homecomers cross to Lampung. On Thursday, 114 vehicles were transported from the pier, and there were 624 on Friday.

Shinto said his side had coordinated with the port authorities to operate Bandar Bakau Jaya (BBJ) Port at Bojonegara to disperse the queue. Four ships are operating at BBJ with a total capacity of 520 vehicles.

"Besides BBJ, Port of Pelindo is currently being readied to serve homecoming travelers with the capacity of transporting 2,000 vehicles," he said.

Based on the data in the past 24 hours from Friday to Saturday, Merak Port Authority had departed 45 ships with 126 trips by loading 155,812 passengers, 18,540 motorcycles, 17,452 cars, and a total of 37,692 vehicles.

The number increased high compared to the day before at 129,866 passengers (increased by 25,956 passengers or 19,97 percent) and 31,934 vehicles (increased by 5,578 vehicles or 18 percent).

Shinto said the speed of the service of the port authority on each pier at Merak Port is the key factor in accelerating the traffic flow from toll and arterial roads. The slow service will slow down the vehicles' movement to the port.

Therefore, the operation of ports and additional ships are important in the acceleration of mudik travelers' mobility. "Other issues may also emerge, such as the services of online ticketing or barcode system at the toll gates of regular ports," he added.

On the other hand, Shinto said that the Banten Police admitted that the density at the toll and arterial roads were unavoidable due to the public high enthusiasm to go mudik to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr in their hometowns.

Read: Eid Homecoming; Soekarno-Hatta Airport Logs Hike in Passenger Since April 22

AYU CIPTA